Aqua restaurant review, Welsh Back in Bristol
Posted on: 2015-04-02
Our rating:
The atmosphere is inviting and convivial and the restaurant itself is a sleek mix of fine dining sophistication and pleasantly relaxed informality.
It's got to be one of the most pleasant al fresco eating and drinking spots in Bristol, but on a cold and rainy afternoon Aqua on Welsh Back in Bristol has plenty to offer inside too.
As well as Bristol (Welsh Back and Whiteladies Road) this family-run restaurant now has eateries in Bath, Milton Keynes and Portishead, which is an impressive expansion since it first opened in 1998. The decor is light, airy and spacious and the impressively sized dining area has plenty of sensibly spaced marble top tables as well as comfy, out-of-the-way areas and semi-circular booths.
Aqua's menu is impressive and diverse, covering dishes such as oysters, salads, pizzas, steaks, lobster and burgers. There's a fixed price menu of 2 courses for £10.95 or 3 for £12.95 and they also do a roast dinner on Sundays for £11.95.
After a pre-starter shared starter of still slightly warm focaccia bread with a fiery, chilli infused dip, it was on to the starters proper. I went for the baked mushrooms which consisted of mushrooms baked in garlic and cream, topped with herbed breadcrumbs and served with a gorgonzola ciabatta toast (£5.95). The mushrooms were beautifully rich, dense and filled with an intense, pungent flavour that mixed amazingly with the incredibly creamy sauce. It was so good there was a touch of deliberate prevarication on my part as I slowed down my eating pace and took incrementally smaller fork fulls to make the dish an its blissfully potent flavours last longer.
My partner opted for the king prawns baked in a spicy pepperonata sauce with Tuscan salami picante, caperberry and balsamic onion (£7.75). It was just as tasty, the prawns thick and succulent, the chunks of salami picante nicely spicy, and the sauce rich in tomato flavour with an occasional fiery edge.
Mains for me took the form of pollo farcito, which was Italian crumbed chicken stuffed with mozzarella and pesto served with crispy onion and herb-buttered spaghetti (£11.50). The chicken was superbly cooked, the crunchy crumbed shell breaking through to a large, impeccably cooked chicken breast that retained it succulency and flavour, while the spaghetti was a confluence of silky smooth textures and oniony crunch.
My food partner in crime headed straight for the pork cheeks, a 24 hour braised pork cheeks with a creamy mash potato, rich chianti jus and black pudding fritter (£13.50). The pork cheeks were a textbook example of how they should be cooked, meaty, rich and delicious and falling apart with barely a touch of the knife and exquisitely melt-in-the-mouth. The accompanying rich jus, creamy mash and black pudding combo were equally divine.
I wrapped things up with almond panna cotta with peach sorbet & honeyed jelly (£5.25), the almond-tainted almost set-custard consistency complimented with the tart, palate-refreshing sorbet and the sweet honeyed jelly. My fellow food aficionado had room for a dessert too in the form of the dark chocolate brownie with rum and raisin ice cream (£5.25), the warm brownie embedded with chunks of biscuit amid its gooey, chocolaty centre, the richness cut through effortlessly by the delightful rum and raisin ice cream.
For a Tuesday afternoon, Aqua was surprisingly busy but it's not hard to see why. The atmosphere is inviting and convivial and the restaurant itself is a sleek mix of fine dining sophistication and pleasantly relaxed informality. The service was also faultless, and our waitresses were effortlessly friendly, attentive and efficient. It's a combination of great atmosphere, superb fine dining, excellent service and wonderful location (even if you're inside watching the rain pour down on the passing masses) that make it one of the best harbourside restaurants in the city.
5/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol - the leading events and entertainment website for Bristol.
2nd April 2015
Article by:
Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
